GDT: Stanley Cup Playoffs | ROUND 1: GAME 1 | Sens @ Leafs | Battle of Ontario Returns Edition | Sun Apr 20 2025, 7PM | CBC, SN, TVAS

[Rals]

Ulmark is garbage

 

[Gil Gunderson]

lol it's period one of the first playoff game and we're already benching Ullmark because of ONE GOAL

oh no…

 

[SanderSen]

Sucky outcome. I expect a regroup for game 2. The series has just begun.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

He was what, 10th or 12th among starters in SVP this year?

It's an off-game, but even if he was fantastic we are still chasing this.

The regular season isn’t what’s concerning about Ullmark…this is kind of what he’s always been in the playoffs. I was hoping it was due to other circumstances in Boston, but it looks like this is what we’re stuck with now.

Has an underdog ever beat the favourite without the goalie being fantastic or at least better than the other team’s? Unless Stolarz completey implodes for whatever reason, we’re not winning this series without Ullmark going above and beyond.

Edit: wtf even his AHL playoff numbers are terrible

 

[K1900L]

An experienced team vs playoff newcomers, this was last night.
It will be interesting to see if they can make adjustments within few days, otherwise this will be over rather quickly.
PK atrocious, PP average, terrible discipline, goaltending meh; whenever an opposing team is able to enter our zone with 3+ players they make us look like fools running around, just terrible man and space coverage.
I also don't know if giving Tavares and Matthews unlimited space and time to establish a nice shooting position is the recipe for success, lol.

The line up wasn't very courageous to begin with. Giroux shouldn't be up there with Stützle, it should be Zetterlund. Cousins not playing either..

They improve on the majority of this stuff or they will be done in a few days.

 

[Tuna99]

In the words of Battle of Ontario veteran Gary Valk “it’s good luck to lose game 1”

 

[PoutineSp00nZ]

Its just 1 game. They didn't look terrible 5 on 5. Ulmark needs to be better, and the team has to stop taking dumb penalties in the Toronto end.

If the Sens win game 2 the whole narrative to this series changes.

 

[Tuna99]

Its just 1 game. They didn't look terrible 5 on 5. Ulmark needs to be better, and the team has to stop taking dumb penalties in the Toronto end.

If the Sens win game 2 the whole narrative to this series changes.

Now all the pressure is on Toronto, nobody even expects us to win a game. Kinda a perfect start for expectations, it’s all on Toronto shoulders now

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

In a way, getting blown out in game 1 might be a good thing. These guys need a slap back to reality. Too many times they play a "barely good enough to win" game, and as soon as they get a winning streak going, they sit back and rest on their laurels, only to end up on a losing streak. This team has talent....but they need the constant drive and commitment and attention to detail EVERY SINGLE DAY if they want to be successful. Not just after the coach and media start yelling at them.

No more "oh, you can't bring that intensity every day" crap...yes you can. And you can further dial it up when the playoffs hit. That what great teams and players do.

I expect to see a win in Game 2. We will win Game 2.

 

[Big Muddy]

the officiating did suck today...but it's still not an excuse. Most of the team didn't show up to play with a playoff intensity.

He was what, 10th or 12th among starters in SVP this year?

It's an off-game, but even if he was fantastic we are still chasing this.

Ya, the focus will be on Ullmark & the refs, but I don’t think there were many Senator players that had a good game. Our high paid skill skaters didn’t play well & plenty of blame to spread around.

 

[JD1]

Well, what a night.

Some observations

1. We gave up 3 goals on the PK in a combined 15 seconds or so. That can't happen. Two of them were rebounds. Giroux is out there to win faceoffs. He needs to win faceoffs
2. Some of the calls were soft. Gaudette screamed it at the ref when Matthews belly flopped. We had 51 more power play opportunities than the Leafs. Hopefully we don't see another game where the PP opportunities are 6-2 in favour of blue.
3. Not sure why Highmore played over Cousins. If Cousins was truly healthy, that was a bad decision.
4. We had a lot of looks in that game and were clearly the better team. 5 on 5. If we get the same game out of our boys the rest of the series, I don't see us losing 3 more times.

Forgot to mention - Sportsnet is such a biased joke. Twice I heard them say that Greig was lucky to not get kicked out of the game. The refs actually made the right call on that play. 5 minute major gives them a chance to review. And the review says .... 2 minutes. And people wonder why Leaf fans are they way they are. They've never watched a hockey game if their life that didn't have a biased play by play and biased intermission

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Good:
5 on 5 play. Stingy. Hard forecheck. Love the way green gets these guys to play.

Batherson. Other than that lost battle on the first goal he was probably our best forward.

Cozens. Everyone here knows how I feel about cozens. But he was good yesterday

Zetterlund. Good player. But man on a team of bad finishers he may be the worst.

Bad.
Ullmark.

Maybe we weren’t ready for how Toronto was gonna play. Which was get to the pp as often as possible.

Our superstars while not bad they played within the system were not great either.

 

[bert]

It was wild to watch the Vegas Minnesota game right after. If it was the same standard of reffing there would have been 30 minor penalties in the first period.

 

[jbeck5]

An emotional first playoff game on the road. Lot of hockey left in this series, game like this can be a rallying point especially if Green and the vets can compose the younger guys. Fourth line needs a shakeup. Gaudette is not suited to a depth role and Highmore is a liability. Felt the other lines were fine 5 on 5. We lost because of discipline/special teams and Ullmark having a weak night.

Remember when Ottawa faced Yashin and game 1 was all about going for hits and Ottawa lost...

They said game 2 was all about getting back to their game and not running around. Won 4 straight.

 

[Hotsam Batcho]

Reffing should never be one of the main talking points of a playoff game.

 

[jbeck5]

Sens need to be smart. They weren’t smart. Very clear how the refs and Toronto were gonna play this game. We didn’t stopmaking the borderline plays

The refs were also one sided here..Ottawa couldn't make the borderline plays but Toronto could.

Their forwards were chasing our d well after they got rid of the puck, even following them cutting away to get a cross check in. No call. But then stutzles muffin cross check gets called.

Gaudette takes a weak call...but then when Domi punches him in the mouth, he doesn't get an extra.

The refs were calling everything on Ottawa...but when stutzle breaks through 2 leaf players and they both wack him in the hands...no call..

When Ridley Greig gets tripped up on a semi breakaway...no call.

But batherson going shoulder first gets a trip because his legs were behind the other players legs.

 

[dumbdick]

I'm still confident. Weak calls and goaltending sunk us. Take that away and that's a close game. We outplayed them for significant stretches.

 

[Micklebot]

Pk allowing 3 goals all coming withing seconds of a lost draw, two off rebounds, not sure what you do to play those better, aside from stop playing the diamond, but that's damn deflating.

As much as many of the calls were complete horseshit you can't be allowing quick goals like that. Maybe Ullmark needs to send those rebounds to the corner, collapse a bit quicker to clear those rebounds, or scrabble the draw instead of losing them clean, doesn't matter how we just can't give up goals in the first 10 seconds of a PK.

 

[HoweHullOrr]

Ya, the focus will be on Ullmark & the refs, but I don’t think there were many Senator players that had a good game. Our high paid skill skaters didn’t play well & plenty of blame to spread around.

That didn’t look like the typical Green type game. Usually we have a strong forecheck, create pressure and turnovers in the opponents zone, move the puck from low to high, get a shot off with traffic in front of the net. We usually defend the neutral zone well with good coverage, force the play to the outside, stick in lanes, that kind of thing. That’s when we play the best, but we didn’t see much of that last night.

Leaf’s top players got on the board: Marner, Knies, Tavares & Nylander. Ours did not and mostly had a pretty quiet night. We had some serious coverage gaffes that lead to the first two Toronto goals. We (i.e., Giroux) didn’t win many face offs either. We spent too much time in the penalty box which is not a good idea against a team like the Leafs.

I would hope & think the players & coach will focus on playing better versus the fans focus on the refs because it's what the players can control that counts.

 

[mysens]

I think Ottawa needed to get a little embarrassed in game one. This many goals allowed in the playoffs is a team collapse, not just Ullmark. Now, Toronto has a big head, their chest is puffed out, feeling like they are unbeatable. This is good. Ottawa will regroup, look at themselves in the mirror, and hate to be embarrassed. This is a big motivation; hopefully, being pushed into the corner of a cage brings out the rage in them to not lose this way. And Toronto is too cocky to see this and appreciate this. If the Toronto big guns start to get checked and covered appropriately, this will be a new game on Tuesday.

 

[Back in Black]

We got this....

 

[Icelevel]

This series is a good test. Evaluate and fix.
Not done yet though. Win tomorrow and all is good again.

 

[bert]

Pk allowing 3 goals all coming withing seconds of a lost draw, two off rebounds, not sure what you do to play those better, aside from stop playing the diamond, but that's damn deflating.

As much as many of the calls were complete horseshit you can't be allowing quick goals like that. Maybe Ullmark needs to send those rebounds to the corner, collapse a bit quicker to clear those rebounds, or scrabble the draw instead of losing them clean, doesn't matter how we just can't give up goals in the first 10 seconds of a PK.

Yeah clearly wasn't all reffing. They finished their goalie stepped up. Green having Highmore and Gaudette on the PK directly resulted in goals. Get amadio and cozens out there instead they are way better hockey players. Cousins has to be in next game.

 

[NyQuil]

Unfortunately, Ullmark never really gave us a chance in this game.

You can argue that we looked better at 5 on 5, but a lot of it was perimeter shooting. Eventually we started pouncing on some of those rebounds that Stolarz was popping out.

Giving their top players free looks at the net from dangerous areas on the ice is not a sustainable strategy. The stretch pass to get behind our D was concerning as well.

Ullmark isn't solely responsible for giving up goals on HDCA but he certainly looked small and timid in net, regardless of whether the pucks were going through him or not. He was not out challenging the edges of his crease like he does when he's on.

The Leafs didn't really have to play better 5 on 5 because they were pretty much in control of the game after the OEL goal.

We had a chance to get back into it with Batherson's goal and Tkachuk's breakaway, but the Stutzle call followed by the Matthews dive ended up being a bit of a TSN turning point for the game.

In any event, the Leafs also have room to play better 5 on 5 so we'll see what happens. I'd be pretty pleased as a Leaf fan to chalk a win up on the blackboard without having to exert too much.

Senators are going to have to be a lot more patient going forward. Still lots of hockey left to be played.

 

[bicboi64]

Our 5v5 hardly looked good. TML was toying with us when it came to puck possession and not finding ways to make plays to get our guys open was just so frustrating.

Loads of hockey still left and if there's a team who's used to choking its TML.

Ullmark better stop his Lalime impressions as well